


Making New Memories

by kitkatt0430



Series: A Touch of Forgetfulness [6]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Amnesia Recovery, Established Relationship, Furniture Shopping, Happily Married, M/M, Pet Rats, Redecorating, Slice of Life, Whatever happened to the owl paintings anyway, in which this started because of owls and ended with a rainbow table
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-01
Packaged: 2021-03-02 22:47:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,881
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24494509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kitkatt0430/pseuds/kitkatt0430
Summary: The owl paintings had to go somewhere after that painting with a twist session.  And then the rats needed a table for their cage, but then suddenly they were bruising their hips on it, so of course then the rest of their living room furniture needed to be re-arranged...
Relationships: Cisco Ramon/Hartley Rathaway
Series: A Touch of Forgetfulness [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1454770
Comments: 12
Kudos: 24
Collections: HartmonFest 2020





	Making New Memories

**Author's Note:**

> For Hartmonfest Prompt for Day 1 - Moving in together/Redecorating

After their painting with a twist session, they do eventually have to bring home the paintings. Cisco still swears his looks like a drunken Pigwidgen compared to Hartley's more dignified Hedwig, but the truth is that, for their first time painting, they both did a pretty good job. And considering that, a week earlier, Cisco had been whammied by a meta who'd wiped nearly six years worth of memories... it was something of a miracle those two paintings existed at all.

When they go to pick up their paintings, they sign themselves - and the rest of Team Flash - up for another session and then wind up over at the wine bar next door to have a glass each. They compliment each other on the the way their paintings turned out and, tentatively, Hartley tells Cisco some about their real first date at the arboretum. Cisco gets flashes of Hartley framed in sunlight, surrounded by flowers and he wants to remember so badly. But the memories slide away from him when he tries to grasp at them, so instead he just listens quietly and basks in the way Hartley looks at him. Cisco's pretty sure that the way Hartley is gazing at him, sweet little fond smile that not only reaches his eyes but lights them right up, is what the term 'heart eyes' was created to describe.

Cisco might not be able to remember their original first date, but their new first date was one he never wanted to forget.

Which is why when they got home, Cisco insisted they put the paintings up for display somewhere. Hartley agreed and they settled on one of the built in bookcases - the one without the space for the television - since the small canvas frames were just the right size for the upper shelves and proceeded to rearrange the current selection of knickknacks and photos on display to make room for them.

"This," Hartley said, taking down a bobbling Borg Cube, "as a birthday gift from Frost almost two years ago." And Cisco can almost remember the smug look on Frost's face as he takes the cube from Hartley to look it over.

Cisco had been delighted by the present since he hadn't expected anything from her at all. He'd... "I got her a Christmas gift so she wouldn't feel left out when we exchanged gifts that year. But she hadn't gotten anyone anything and... she said she didn't, but she felt bad." He doesn't remember what he got her, but the little bobble-cube is thoughtful. He'd hugged her for the first time, shedding the last vestiges of... he'd been uncomfortable around her. Something she'd done or something she hadn't done... something that had really frightened him. But whatever it was, it slipped away and Cisco let it. He was pretty sure he wasn't ready for that memory yet.

"That's right," Hartley agreed. "She was really, really pleased with how much you liked it."

Cisco set the borg cube beside him, watching it bounce. "Did she do something to me?" he asked. "I just... I remember being afraid of her. And Caitlin was worried about what I'd remember about Frost."

"Yes and no." Hartley shrugged when Cisco raised an eyebrow at him. "Caitlin was afraid of her at first. And so we were afraid of her too. When Frost did finally manifest fully, she did some awful things and threatened to do worse. Because everyone was afraid of her, she thought the only things she was capable of would be bad, so why bother trying to be good? And you had a vibe of her..." Hartley took Cisco's hands in his, kissing Cisco's knuckles lightly. "You had every reason to be afraid of what she might do to you. But instead, you reached out and put the choice of who she wanted to be in her hands. The first person to ask her what she wanted her future to look like instead of just assuming what you'd seen would come to pass."

There's definitely a lingering echo of fear inside of Cisco's chest. But he taps the cube to start the bobbling back up. Caitlin and Frost share a body and a brain. They have the same heart. They may not be the same people, but Frost comes from the same place Caitlin does and it's just... impossible for Cisco to imagine that cruelty came naturally to Frost. She must have been angry and desperate, feeling backed into a corner they'd put her in. "I want to keep this out," Cisco decided. "This can be our 'keep on display' pile."

"Sounds good," Hartley agreed, grabbing the next item taking up space where the Pigwidgen painting was to go. "This is a worry stone," he said, rolling the purple, egg-shaped stone in his hands. "You got it for me when I was first going on anti-anxiety medication. I didn't react well to the first round of meds and was suddenly antsy all the time. Couldn't keep my hands still to save my life and I was driving Caitlin crazy with the whirring noise of my little fidget spinner. You dropped this into my hands at work one day, said you'd found it at a little second hand store near your apartment and that if it wasn't enough to keep may hands busy then at least it'd..."

"It'd double as a very pretty paper weight," Cisco murmured, taking the stone into his own hands. "Just don't let Caitlin near it until she's stopped glaring murderously at your spinner."

Hartley chuckled softly. "How about we move this to our desk in the guest room?"

"Okay." Cisco set it aside, clearly a different 'pile' than the borg cube.

The rest of the afternoon passed in the same vein, Hartley telling Cisco about the memories attached to the items they kept on display. Sometimes Cisco would remember a little with Hartley's own recollections acting as a prompt. Sometimes he'd draw a blank, for all that he enjoyed the story Hartley relayed. When they were done, the paintings looked like they belonged up on those shelves. New memories interweaved with the old.

And Cisco couldn't help himself. He turned to Hartley and kissed him on the mouth. Not the chaste, shy kisses he'd been sticking with for the most part - would probably continue mostly sticking with for a while long until his feelings finally settled. But a needy, demanding kiss, drawing Hartley's body close and reveling in the certainty that they could kiss like this thousands of times and never would Cisco grow tired of the taste of Hartley's mouth.

* * *

As nice as the rat cage for Remy and Emil is, it's not exactly ideal for playing with their new pets. (They'd named the rats the day after purchasing them. Hartley'd picked _Ratatouille_ for them to watch and Cisco had decided the names were perfect, much to Hartley's amused agreement.) So a few days later, they went back to the store and got a collapsible pen. That way they could cordon off part of the apartment so that the fuzzy little duo wouldn't get lost under furniture, run into the bedrooms, or go exploring in the kitchen if their pet humans had a moment of inattentiveness.

Cisco hadn't thought he'd love the little creatures so much. But he does. He really, really does.

Remy is the bold one. He decides he likes Cisco and Hartley first, climbing all over them and demanding pets and play time. Emil is the more timid of the two, shy and sweet. His favorite spot became Cisco's shoulder, a high vantage point the watch the apartment from, but one where he can hide in Cisco's hair, fur soft against Cisco's neck.

Hartley is absolutely smug over how quickly Cisco has taken to their little rats. Cisco completely understands the appeal of Hartley's rat-dedicated sideblog on tumblr now, though. And he enjoys seeing all the reblogs the pictures of their pets are getting.

Currently Cisco has himself propped up against several pillows in the pen, rats asleep on his chest while he reads the start of the third book in the dragon trilogy Hartley'd recommended him on their first night back in the apartment together after Cisco's unfortunate brush with the amnesia-causing meta. The front door opens and shuts quietly, gaining Cisco's attention, however, and he looks up to see Hartley - two grocery bags in hand - beaming over at him from the kitchen.

"You three are adorable," Hartley declares.

"Shush," Cisco returns, bringing a finger up to his mouth with exaggerated care and winking. "The fur babies are sleeping."

* * *

The downside to having a new table in the living area, even one with as important a job as holding the rat cage and storing the play pen, food and treat containers, and spare bedding, was that the table took up space in the room that neither Cisco nor Hartley were used to being filled.

Cisco's memories of their current apartment might be few at the moment, but judging by the bruise on his hip from smacking into the corner of the new table for the umpteenth time, Cisco's body pretty clearly remembered having more space between the couch and the wall than there was between the couch and the new table. He groaned softly as Hartley joined him on the couch and put a bag of ice wrapped in a towel gently atop the large bruise.

"I think we need to rearrange the furniture," Hartley told Cisco, idly sliding a finger along the exposed skin where Cisco had pulled up the side of his shirt to examine the rapidly purpling bruise.

Eyes fluttering shut at the feeling of Hartley's delicate touch, Cisco nodded. "Yeah, it feels a little crowded on this side of the room compared to the foosball table side and... I love that table. It was a lucky find at a garage sell when I got my first apartment." It had represented a lot of things to Cisco, most notably the freedom to really express himself beyond the narrow boundaries his parents and brother had previously allowed him. "But it doesn't really fit anymore. At least, not in the space we've got right now. I don't want to get rid of it, because if we were to get a bigger place down the road then..."

"A dedicated game room would be awesome," Hartley agreed, slipping an arm around Cisco's shoulders. "We could co-opt one of the many empty rooms at STAR Labs as our game room until we're ready to find a bigger place. But then what do we do with the space it's in now?"

The apartment entry was behind a small wall that kept it separate from the otherwise open plan living/dining/kitchen area, which meant that there was an empty wall across from the guest room's door.

"If we move the spin-y chair over to the entry wall," Cisco mused, "and get a chair that matches it then we could have a separate sitting area over there and move the couch so that it's more centered on the tv, giving us more space between the couch and the rat's table."

Hartley hummed thoughtfully and then nodded. "That'd work really nicely. And I like furniture shopping with you. Maybe we could find a coffee table for the sitting area that could double as a dining table somehow? It'd be nice to have a dining table to sit at that doesn't poke us in the side with rods or have one folding leg that no longer extends fully such that we're always smacking our knees on it." The folding table in question was hidden in the back of their guest room closet beside the fire safe.

"That might be a tall order, but definitely worth looking at convertible tables for," Cisco agreed. "We should play a round of foosball tonight and then look for the ideal game room at STAR Labs tomorrow. And I think I've got the hang of opening breaches again, so we won't even need to call for a mover. We can just stick the table on sliders and push it through a breach."

Hartley agreed and so that was what they did. Later that evening they carefully took off the glass panels, which were a bit of hassle to take on and off the foosball table. One of the reasons they hadn't been playing as much lately. But it was still a lot of fun to play, bringing out both their competitive spirits and having them engage in some friendly trash talking, most of which had both of them cracking up at each other.

In the morning, Cisco opened up a breach to the STAR Labs Cortex from their living room as a practice run for moving the foosball table later on. He'd been relearning his powers with the help of their friend, Cynthia from Earth-19. Cisco could remember fighting her when they first met to save HR - the memory of victory more painful than it ought to have been, followed so closely by the strong recollection of standing at solemnly at a funeral watching HR's casket lower into the ground.

Still, there was something satisfyingly familiar about using his powers now to create a shortcut from home to work. Cisco closed his eyes and focused on the STAR Labs Cortex. Lift a hand and felt for the vibrations of the universe and...

He'd done this before. A lot. Emergencies in the dead of night, either Hartley or Cisco needing to suit up and join Barry or Wally or play the voice in their ear. Or just going to work in the morning every day. They'd saved a lot on gas with Cisco's powers.

A smile curved its way onto Cisco's face and his eyes opened. A breach glittered in front of him.

"You okay?" Hartley asked, concerned and proud all at the same time.

Cisco nodded. "I just remembered how often I do this. From here to STAR Labs. It's good to be able to do this again."

* * *

Once the foosball table and it's accompanying stools and glass panels were out of the way, they moved the chair and couch around the way Cisco had suggested. Then Hartley pulled out a measuring tape and some painter's tape and they figured out how big of a chair and table would feel good in the space without turning overwhelming. It was kind of amusing just how exacting Hartley got with his measurements and Cisco definitely enjoyed all the bending over Hartley was doing to move the blue tape around on the carpet.

His husband had a very lovely ass. Just... yum.

"You know... I think the the tape's a little wonky on one end," Cisco offered, grinning impishly when Hartley quirked an eyebrow at him.

"What can I say? The tape is about as straight as I am." Hartley reached out to tug Cisco close for a kiss. "Pretty sure you just want to ogle my butt some more," he added with a smirk.

Cisco matched that smirk with one of his own and teasingly groped that very butt, giggling when Hartley squeaked in surprise.

* * *

Furniture shopping is the next step, so they head out in the car to the closest store in the area. And it's a bust. Hartley isn't impressed with the build quality of the tables, Cisco doesn't like the fabric options, and none of the chairs that look nice are actually comfortable to sit on. The next store is better, but nothing jumps out at them as furniture they want to look at every day for the next several years. Though they did at least come to the conclusion that they definitely wanted the new coffee table to be round.

Furniture store number three, they split up. Cisco tackled the chairs while Hartley went to wander through the tables. And, finally, Cisco found a chair with fabric options he liked. The chair was a spinny chair designed similarly to the one they already had. It felt comfortable when he sat down to test it out and Cisco leaned back and stretched and let the chair slowly spin around in place with him on it, just to be sure. While the bright red color the floor model sported wasn't exactly their style - though Cisco had already sent Barry a picture captioned 'how about this for your next suit color?' - there were other options available. Including a light gray fabric with teal and dark gray stylized circles that would match well with the blue-green chair they already had.

Cisco had just returned to the chair when Hartley found him again. "Tables were a bust. No coffee tables in our style and, sadly, none that are going to meet our hopes for a multi-purpose table that we can make tall enough to count as a dining table."

"What about that fabric?" Cisco gestured to an over-sized chair that had the fabric on it he'd liked.

"Oh, that's pretty," Hartley circled the chair. "The chair itself isn't really our style, but that is nice fabric. Feels nice too," he added, running his hands over the arm rests. 

"This chair is supposed to be available in that fabric too." Cisco steered Hartley over to the one he'd liked. "Similar in style to the one we've already got, also spins so no more fighting over who gets to sit in the spinny chair. Very comfortable, has passed my sit test."

"If we got it in this color it'd be Barry's designated chair every time he visits," Hartley joked, giving the chair a sit test of his own. "Very comfy indeed. I think you've found us a chair."

"Awesome!" Cisco bounced in excitement. "Let's go find a salesperson and get our chair ordered, then. But what do we want to do about the coffee table. I doubt we're gonna find a multi-purpose table like we were hoping for unless we start looking for custom furniture shops."

"At least we've narrowed down what kind of style we want for the table's appearance, but I think you're right." Hartley let Cisco give him a hand up out of the seat. "That's going to mean researching not only shops that do custom work but figuring out what our price range is. It'll be more expensive than we're used to paying. But it'll also likely wind up being the best piece of furniture we ever purchase quality wise too."

"I guess we'll be spending the rest of the afternoon on google," Cisco said. "We could set up the pen and let Emil and Remy sit with us while we research."

Hartley kissed Cisco on the cheek in response and then waved down a nearby salesperson.

* * *

Commissioning furniture was, as they had guessed, not cheap. Still well within their budget, considering they both had very nice salaries from STAR Labs, but the potential price ranges still made them both wince. Not that they had any doubt the final product would be well worth the price, they both simply had very strong memories of being broke college students buying the cheapest second hand furniture they could get for under fifty bucks.

But they eventually found a local queer craftsman who was open for commissions and they spent some time at her store discussing what they were hoping for with the table. The final design was a round, small coffee table that they could extend the legs up to dining height, essentially turning it into a cafe table, with two leafs to bring the seating up from two to either four or six. It would be much nicer, and far more functional, than the fold away dining table they kept in the closet, which could only seat two.

Once the basic design was agreed on, then they had to choose materials. They ended up browsing through her show pieces for a bit to make those decisions. Metal was the obvious choice for the legs, as it would make extending those legs to dining height easier. They ended up going with bronze specifically, as they both tended to prefer darker furniture to go with their lighter colored walls and carpet. For the table top they picked a reddish brown stained oak with a rainbow colored resin inlay around the edges. Cisco had thought it was pretty, but he'd seen the way Hartley's eyes were drawn to it over and over again as they'd wandered through the show pieces.

It cost more, but Cisco was fine with that when he saw how much Hartley lit up when he casually suggested maybe they have her copy that accent on their table.

"It'll be our gay pride table," Cisco joked.

"Are you sure, I mean... it'll put us over the price range we agreed on." Hartley ran his fingers over the resin inlay. "It'd have to be on not just the table, but the leaves of the table and match up both when the table is extended and when its closed..." in other words, it would have to be difficult detail work and pricy, pricy, pricy.

"So it's our merry Christmas to us present," Cisco decided, watching the longing look on Hartley's face instead of looking at the inlay again.

"I love you," Hartley said, kissing Cisco chastely, but a promise of heat beneath it. "Thank you."

"It'll be absolutely gorgeous in our living room, but what I already like best about it is how happy it'll make you." Cisco tangled their fingers together. Then they headed back up to the shop owner to let her know they'd made a decision.

* * *

It takes a month and a half for their table to be finished and Cisco's fairly certain it's not the last time they'll indulge in a little impromptu redecorating. But at the moment, they have a warm comfortable home and Cisco loves it.

"We need to have a dinner party," Hartley declared. "Come on, lets see how much space this takes up with all the leaves in place."

"The inlay turned out beautifully," Cisco observed, running his hands over one of the leaves. "And the stain looks gorgeous."

"Have I thanked you again yet for pushing for this?" Hartley came up behind Cisco and kissed his neck. "Because I wanted this so much, but I would have..." he trailed off uncertainly. He'd have talked himself out of splurging.

"I saw how much you loved the display piece we saw at the store," Cisco replied, leaning back against Hartley's chest and enjoying the feeling of his husband's arms sliding around his waist. "I wanted to see that look on your face again. And I wanted to treat us both to something nice. The last few months have been hard on us and even though I've remembered a lot of things..." he trailed off because they both knew there was so much more Cisco still couldn't remember.

Their wedding was still an utterly frustrating blank. There's a part of him that fears he'll never remember it.

"We decided to make new memories together," Cisco continued after a moment's hesitation. "This... this is a really good memory."

"I think we can hold off on putting the table together for a little while," Hartley murmured, lips trailing against Cisco's ear. "Join me in the bedroom?"

"Definitely."


End file.
